I'm Stuck, Lord!

Have you ever been stuck, unable to move forward in the healing and freedom God has for you? Have you tried asking, forgiving, confessing, repenting, sought the counsel of godly men and women, indeed done everything that you know to do from God’s word, but still nothing much seems to change?

I was in this place and beginning to lose heart until the Lord got my attention when I read this scripture ‘I am doing a new thing, do you not perceive it?’ I honestly replied that I didn’t perceive it and asked the Lord to help me understand what He was saying. His reply was ‘do not to lean on your own understanding’.

Slowly I began to realise that for years I had eaten of ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’ using my mind and ability to analyse, rationalise, work things out, sort things out. Even as a child I had relied on my own understanding to make sense of an adult world that I didn’t understand and didn’t feel safe in. I was taught to use my mind at school and later at college to solve problems and write dissertations, always analysing, always questioning, but ‘never coming to a knowledge of the truth’. It was God’s truth I needed from this ‘stuck place’, not my own reasoning.

So Jesus asked me to lay down my ‘carnal’ understanding, my analysis of past and present difficulties, and of how God was going to heal me (often based on bible knowledge, past experience or indeed others’ experiences of God) and to trust Him for His understanding. He was, in effect, saying stop eating from ‘the tree of the knowledge of good and evil’, which was my carnal understanding, and start eating from the ‘tree of life’. He wasn’t asking me to negate how He has made me, with a brain and with abilities, but He was asking me to put my trust in Him alone and let Him take the lead.

The thought of letting go of my own understanding made me feel afraid because it had become my security and an idol in my life. If I could understand what was happening I could do something about it, but it was false security. I finally prayed to put it down. It was as if a heavy weight lifted from my mind and I could step out into the summer sunshine and actually start enjoying the life He’d given me. I no longer had to work it all out, and I found rest from the self-analysis, worry and frustration. God was in charge and later He began to bring me His understanding, little by little.

With all the wonderful biblical teaching we receive let’s never forget that Jesus is the Healer and only the Holy Spirit can lead us into the truth of God and the truth of what’s happened in our lives, and bring about the deep healing and freedom so many of us need. Let’s do what God asks us to do and lean on Him for understanding. I believe this will enable us to trust God at all times, even when we don’t have understanding!

Prayer: Lord Jesus Christ, I’m so grateful that You reveal the loving heart of Father God to Your children and send the Holy Spirit to lead us into all truth. Forgive me if I’ve tried to heal myself using ‘soulish’ understanding. I lay that down now and trust that You know better than I do. You have full understanding and know what I need. Please do things Your way in my life, Lord. Amen.